James Land, widower, married Rose Anna Beamer, widow, on 19 Apr 1863 at the Parish Church of St Michael and All Angels in Bampton, Devon.
James Land (b. 1828) was the son of John Land, Labourer, and in 1841, aged 13, was in his father's household at Gate Street, West, Bampton. His mother's given name was Loveday, born 1804 in
Rackenford, Devon. I haven't been able to find a record of his parents' marriage, but the only relevant baptism that year in Rackenford, is for a Loveday Flew. If correct, this is the same Flew family of Rackenford that my 2x great-grandmother,
Jane Middleton, married into.
In 1851, James (23) was still at home, unmarried. But by 1861, James (32) was living as a Lodger in the household of Ann Beamer (38) from Norton, Somerset, along with four of her children: Mary (10),
Alfred (8),
James (6) and Lindy (2).
The only one of those children for whom I can find a civil registration is James Beamer in 1855, which confirms that Rose Anna's maiden name was Smith.
At the time of her marriage to James Land, Rose Anna Beamer had given her father's name as Isaac Smith, Labourer. I've found a record of a baptism on 1 Feb 1824 for a Mary Smith, daughter of Isaac and Hannah Smith at All Saints,
Norton Fitzwarren, who may have been her sister.
James Land, therefore, must have been both married and widowed between the 1851 and 1861 censuses. There is a marriage of a James Land to a Jane Flew in 1854 and the death of a Jane Land, aged 30, in 1856, which, by process of elimination, looks like it might relate. They were probably cousins.
Yes, the family tree of my Devon ancestors would be in the form of a circle. Or as 'him indoors' says, a very complicated monkey puzzle tree! LOL
Beamer is a surname found in
Clayhanger right back to the 1600s and probably still. In 1851 there was a James Beamer (58), who's a likely in-law.
With a two year old in 1861, one might assume that Rose Anna (Ann) had only fairly recently been widowed, but the only record of a death that may potentially be that of her husband - I haven't [yet] been able to find a record of this earlier marriage, but
son Alfred Beamer's marriage gives his father's name as James Beamer - is that for a James Beamer, aged 37, in the last quarter of 1854. That would make James Beamer, born 1855, a
posthumous child. Although, it would make Lindy Beamer the child of another liaison. Not exactly unheard of.
John and Rose Anna had at least three further children together:
- George Land Beamer born Q4 1862 (died Q1 1863, aged 0)
- Loveday Jane Land born 1864, in Bampton, Devon
- John Land born 3 Feb 1866, in Stoodleigh, Devon
John Land, aged approximately 90, died in 1866. This age would fit with James' father and would explain why he named his son John in the same quarter.
In 1871, in High Street, Bampton, we find James Land (41) and Rosannah (46), with just Loveday J (7) and John (5). Not one of Rose Anna's previous family are living with their mother. It's not the first time I've seen a first family "disappear" when their parent remarries either. Rose Anna's daughter, Mary (b. 1850), I've been unable to find any further mention of; Alfred Bimmer (sic) (19) was working as a [Farm] Servant for Thomas Chave in
Morebath; James Beamer (16) Masons Labourer was lodging, with Henry Beamer (21) Ag Lab, elsewhere in Bampton; there are no other records at all of Lindy Beamer (b. 1859).
In 1881, at Westbrook Cottage, Bampton, at a guess, on
Westbrook Farm (
PDF), were James Land (54) Ag Lab; Ann Land (58); Jane Land (18) Domestic (Out of Service) - just given birth; John Land (16) Gen Labourer; Henry Beames (sic) (8) Grandson and Rosana Land (0) Granddaughter.
James Land died, aged 56, in the first quarter of 1884.
There is a death of a Rose Anne Land in 1889, with her age estimated as 40. This would be a 20 year discrepancy, if typical lie about a woman's age.